Static Link Aggregation Teams

Models: 5800/320MA

Configuring Ethernet PCI Adapters

address of the new primary adapter. As a result, some packets are dropped until the new primary adapter can reestablish connections using the new Ethernet address (possibly a 30-second or more delay). To disable receive load balancing and to improve fault tolerance, you must manually set the value of the Receive Load Balancing property to Off in the Advanced tab for the ALB team. (The ALB team continues to balance traffic that the team transmits.)

Static link aggregation increases transmission and reception throughput by balancing both transmit and receive traffic over all members of the team. (Static link aggregation also includes AFT features.)

You must connect all members of a static aggregation team to a single switch that supports either the Fast EtherChannel (FEC) standard or the Gigabit EtherChannel (GEC) standard, and the relevant switch ports must be properly configured for it. When you create a static link aggregation team, it automatically negotiates a FEC or GEC connection, depending on the type and configuration of the switch.

Table 2-9lists the types of static link aggregation teams that each Ethernet PCI adapter supports. See your switch documentation to determine which types of teams it supports.

Table 2-9. Supported Ethernet Fault-Tolerant Teams

Ethernet
PCI Adapter	FEC	GEC

Embedded	Yes (when configured at	Yes (when configured
10/100/1000-Mbps	10- or 100-Mbps)	at 1000-Mbps)

U575	Yes (when configured at	Yes (when configured
	10- or 100-Mbps)	at 1000-Mbps)

IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation Teams

IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation teams provide full transmit and receive load balancing like the FEC and GEC standards, but in a dynamic-mode implementation. Dynamic mode is an implementation of the final 802.3ad specification.

Many switches support an implementation of only the draft 802.3ad specification, which does not include dynamic mode. To determine whether your switch is fully compatible with the dynamic-mode implementation of the 802.3ad standard, contact your switch vendor.

Ethernet PCI Adapters 2-11